


Like milk for spice

by Solovei



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Torchwood
Genre: Children of Earth Compliant, Drabble, M/M, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-04
Updated: 2013-10-04
Packaged: 2018-03-13 05:25:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3369464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Solovei/pseuds/Solovei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some of Jack's thoughts around Alonso and someone else he used to love. <br/>Takes place after "End of Time: Part 2", so expect spoilers for that and "Torchwood: Children of Earth."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like milk for spice

He looked like him, Jack noticed. Not identical by any means, but close enough. If you stood them side by side, a regular person would think they were brothers. The same clear eyes, broad forehead, honest sort of face. Shame about the ears, but he’s had worse in his time. His eyes scanned over the uniform, trying to place the insignia and cut. Whatever it was, it suited him, and Jack could never resist a military man - he wouldn't admit it, but that was half the reason he joined the Time Agency in the first place.

And yet, he was not him. There was something more open about Alonso, something true and uncomplicated. There was courage and bravery just like him, but it was different. He had been a mystery, like a dish that had many different flavors, some obvious, others requiring several attempts to decipher. And did he ever keep coming back for more… No, Alonso was nothing like Ianto, he decided. Alonso was like milk, pure and simple and uncomplicated. Essential.

They spend the night together. He tells Jack of his first flight out, how he helped save the Earth with that strange stow-away who didn’t tell anyone his name. Jack hides a knowing smile; Alonso is that kind of person, the kind who would tell someone his entire life story after a couple of drinks. The honesty is almost cliche, but soon Jack realizes that there is no act here. This is all there is to Alonso, no secrets or lies or mysteries, just a young man with a uniform and a scar.

There were things about Alonso that were different, of course. The way his voice rose in pitch whenever he got excited or scared, the speed with which he blushed whenever Jack would try to flirt with him. He was shorter, his face more youthful. Jack couldn’t help but picture him in a uniform  that the Boy Scouts wore back on Earth; everything about him just radiated courage and honesty and morality. In a way, Alonso reminded Jack of himself, in his younger days when he was a bright-eyed recruit in The Time Agency. He felt almost bad for corrupting him. Almost. Jack couldn't help it; he ruined everyone he touched, that was his lot in life.

Alonso told him everything, about his childhood on Sto, joining the Cruise Fleet, all of it. Who he loved and who he feared and all those things that you hope people will tell you when you get closer to them. He hid nothing because there was no reason for him to. And Jack listened and took it all in, even as they saw each other again and again and he started to make up reasons for not leaving every day. I’ll leave in the morning, he tells himself each night. But that never happened. Every night he dreamt of that room with the glass cage, every night he had to relive what happened. Sometimes, his mind got clever. It made up other things, other disasters - but no matter what, the ending was always the same. Ianto would always die, knocking Jack into wakefulness only to find a remarkably similar copy sleeping next to him. 

He knew it wasn’t fair to Alonso - but in all honesty, he probably didn’t even realize that Jack was using him. 

No, he was far too too righteous to think that people can do that to each other. 


End file.
